Nikko and the Shrines

Nikko Travel Blog

Jana and I got on the train heading for Nikko at 8:00am and we arrived in Nikko at 1:00pm. We went to our hotel and checked in because Nikko is a touristy place the staff at the hotel was able to speak a little English and showed us the best ways to get to all of the sights that we wanted to see. After dropping off our stuff, we headed out to the temple area in Nikko.

The Tosho-gu Shine is a work of art; the carvings are superb and the gold details are incredible. One of the most famous carvings is of three monkeys who are doing the “Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil” poses. Jana and I got a huge kick out of this and of course had to stop and get our pictures taken there. This temple also is famous for the “Nemuri-neko” (otherwise known as the sleeping cat) which is another carving.

Jana and I also looked at two other temples that were in the area and they were smaller than the Tosho-gu shrine but they were also beautiful.

Now to be honest Shin-kyo (Sacred Bridge) was a bit of a let down. It is a beautiful bridge but a rather large road was built right next to it so you are dodging traffic as you are trying to take pictures of the bridge. The legend of the area (according to my guidebook) is that a priest crossed the river by riding on two giant serpents and the bridge was built to celebrate that crossing.